July 2010 Volume VII Issue VII

Just for the ASKing! is a monthly e-newsletter that addresses the needs of instructional leaders, particularly building level administrators. Each month, this column provides information, insights, and suggestions that support administrators as they strive to be instructional leaders in schools. First published in October 2004, this issue is the 70th issue of Just for the ASKing! All past issues can be found online in the Just ASK Resource Center. The focus this month is the 2010 Opening of School Checklist.

Download the 2010 Opening of School Checklist

Educators around the world have shared with me the various ways they have used Just for the ASKing! in their professional work. There is a unifying theme associated with their different approaches. The concept of collaboration tended to be the thread that connected their many applications of the newsletter. Collaboration is not simply an educational buzzword but a viable and exciting practice that has made a significant difference in increasing student achievement and strengthening the school culture. Various ways that practitioners have used the newsletter to promote collaboration and facilitate communication are detailed below.

Supporting the Mission
A team of professionals often pool their best thinking to devise the school’s mission statement and school plan. The school’s mission and annual improvement plan can simply be a series of empty words unless there is carry through to ensure that the statements turn into actions that will impact beliefs and behaviors. One principal shared with me that she had reviewed the Just for the ASKing! archives and found nine different newsletter editions that she and her staff used throughout the year to keep the momentum for accomplishing the school plan moving in the right direction. She used the issues as she worked with grade level teams as well as with the full faculty to accomplish the goals established in their plan.

Engaging the Faculty
School leaders have the responsibility of providing professional development for their teachers on a continuous basis. Many administrators have set aside time at their monthly faculty meetings exclusively for staff development purposes. The newsletters can provide built-in lesson plans that will enable administrators to engage their faculties, model instructional practices, allow teachers to self-assess their beliefs and practices, or to simply stimulate professional dialogues. The archives contain a wide range of topics including rethinking assessment practices, the homework dilemma, working with resistant or reluctant learners, providing growth-producing feedback to students, and ways to differentiate instruction. A closer examination of back issues can help administrators to discover newsletter columns that will support their staff development agendas and enable them to plan exciting and stimulating learning experiences for the adults in their schools.

Increasing Student Learning
The ultimate responsibility of all educators is to advance student learning. As professionals, in order to fulfill this commitment, we must be lifelong learners, keep abreast of new research findings, and add new practices that will support students as they tackle learning objectives and reach mastery on standards. The majority of the newsletter columns provide specific ideas that teachers can readily add to their range of instructional skills and techniques in many categories, including lesson and unit planning, increasing assessment practices, steps to take when students don’t learn, and strategies that will help to close the achievement gap.

Supervising Individual Teachers
While many teachers are able to carry out their professional responsibilities in a facile manner, others may struggle as they try to determine what steps should be taken to improve their pedagogy and impact student learning in a positive manner. The teachers in the latter category may have a sincere desire to improve their skills or add to their knowledge, but they need innovative ideas they can implement with their students. In their roles as supervisors and evaluators, administrators report that they often share specific editions of the newsletter in their conferences with teachers. After discussing the newsletter content, the administrator often asks the teacher to employ the new strategies and then meet to talk about how the new ideas worked.

Mentoring Novice Teachers
The statistics tell us that approximately 50% of our new teachers leave the profession during their first three to five years on the job. Hence, it is essential that a school has a strong mentoring program to support individuals who are new to their jobs. As I work with mentors, they look for ways to share new teaching strategies with their mentees, and, as a result, they often check newsletter titles to determine which topics will provide ideas and suggestions that may help the novice teachers keep their focus, realize that they are not alone in their struggle, and add new strategies to their teaching repertoires.

Sharing with Administrators
In many locations, all members of the administrative staff (and often all teachers) subscribe to the newsletter. In their fast-paced lives, school leaders often do not have time to read journals or keep abreast of new findings in the field of education. One way to keep current is to read and then jointly discuss a specific newsletter edition that is especially pertinent to the life of the school. This practice is not only a time saver but it will keep leaders apprised of “hot topics” as well as specific steps they can take to support teachers and students in their learning environment.

Starting the Conversation
Administrators and other school leaders occasionally puzzle over the best ways to introduce a new idea or a promising practice to individuals, teams of teachers or to the full faculty. Just for the ASKing! may provide the appropriate approach to get teachers thinking about and engaging in conversations about different ways to reach their students. Table talk at faculty meetings, reactions or responses from department chairs or grade level leaders, or one-on-one collaboration to discuss pedagogy or methodology after reading an edition of a newsletter may just be the impetus to set a change in motion.

Working with Parents
With an increasing emphasis on involving parents in the life of the school, the newsletter may provide a vehicle to elicit parent input or to help parents better understand new ideas being implemented at the school. During PTA meetings or parental advisory groups, an issue of Just for the ASKing! may provide background information, new insights, or fresh perspectives on teaching strategies being implemented at the school. It is no secret that parents often have difficulty understanding teaching methods or approaches that they did not experience themselves. By using the newsletter to facilitate a discussion with parents, leaders are able to hear first hand parental reactions to new ideas and to be able to clarify any misconceptions parents may have.

Counseling with Students
Teachers, administrators, and counselors often meet with students individually to provide counseling, to problem solve, to motivate or to simply be a caring adult. Two newsletter categories in the archives, Meeting the Needs of Diverse Learners and Motivational/Thought Provoking, may provide information, insights, or talking points that will help facilitate conversations and keep the student moving in a positive direction. 

Expanding Personal Knowledge
As professionals, we should always keep open minds and never become complacent with the status quo or limit our thinking. It is each educator’s personal responsibility to be a lifelong learner, to keep current in the field, and to add new ways of thinking as we seek the best ways to work with young people. Newsletter articles may just be the right catalyst to advance our thinking, to enable us to expand our pedagogical options, and to promote collegial conversations.

It is a daunting responsibility to lead a school. But as many experienced administrators have learned, it is not the sole responsibility of the principal and his or her administrative team to take on the task of making the decisions, establishing and carrying out the vision, solving the inevitable problems that will occur along the way, redirecting the course if necessary, and motivating staff and students to carry out the school’s goals. As administrators work during the summer to plan for the next school year, the concept of collaboration should be at the forefront of their thinking. Call it teamwork, joint effort, coalition, esprit de corps or synergy, it all comes down to the understanding that “We Are All in This Together.” The 2010 Opening of School Checklist can help to get the year off to a good start.

Download the 2010 Opening of School Checklist

© 2010 Just ASK Publications & Professional Development

Permission is granted for reprinting and distribution of this newsletter for
non-commercial use only. Please include the following citation on all copies:
Oliver, Bruce. “The 2010 Opening of School Checklist ” Just for the ASKing! July 2010. Available at www.justaskpublications.com. Reproduced with permission of Just ASK Publications & Professional Development (Just ASK). © 2010 by Just ASK. All rights reserved.